If you're new here, this blog will give you the tools to become financially independent in 5 years. The wiki page gives a good summary of the principles of the strategy. The key to success is to run your personal finances much like a business, thinking about assets and inventory and focusing on efficiency and value for money. Not just any business but a business that's flexible, agile, and adaptable. Conversely most consumers run their personal finances like an inflexible money-losing anti-business always in danger on losing their jobs to the next wave of downsizing.
Here's more than a hundred online journals from people, who are following the ERE strategy tailored to their particular situation (age, children, location, education, goals, ...). Increasing their savings from the usual 5-15% of their income to tens of thousands of dollars each year or typically 40-80% of their income, many accumulate six-figure net-worths within a few years.
Since everybody's situation is different (age, education, location, children, goals, ...) I suggest only spending a brief moment on this blog, which can be thought of as my personal journal, before delving into the forum journals and looking for the crowd's wisdom for your particular situation.

Profits in the land continued to erode and businessmen began to realize that without increased consumption it would be impossible to support the excess factories and the massive amount of debt they had taken on. The government tried to help by given everybody some money, but most just paid off some of their debt postponing the problem for some months.

Realizing that something has to be done soon, the bulls who had the most overextended risk and financed at the highest interest rated started liquidating debt-financed assets closing factories, firing workers, selling houses, thus starting a wave of bankruptcies and a decline in the standard of living as people lost their homes and jobs. The sheple who had seen some of their friends being dragged through the mud also become worried and start liquidating their assets. Even the bears began to worry that their loans wouldn’t be paid back. The general attitude changed from optimism to pessimism and people stopped purchasing which further eroded profits triggering a new wave of downsizing. Millions of sheple then learned that they had invested in unprofitable businesses. Still as the economy was going downhill occasional rebounds happened in various sectors of the economy. Yet that was of little comfort because soon they resumed their downward spiral.

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